Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Problem: Drag and Drop Straight Table Columns Not Working

One of the other consultants at work came to me last week with a seemingly odd problem. She had a document with a straight table that originally had one dimension column. She added two more dimension columns and QlikView added the new columns on the right-hand side of the table. But, my co-worker wanted all three dimension columns to be on the left of the table which is the way we usually set up a straight table. Normally, dragging the new columns over to the left should be quick and easy… but, no matter how many times she tried, the new columns could not be dragged and stayed stubbornly on the right.

After close examination, some trial and error, and a bit of logical thinking; the source of the problem became clear. The thing that was interfering with the drag-and-drop of the dimension columns was the few columns in the chart that were not visible. In this case, there were two kinds: a hidden column, and three conditional columns that would only be visible under specific conditions.

The source of the problem suggested a solution:  right-click on the straight table, select Properties and choose the Presentation tab. One by one, click on each of the columns shown on the Presentation tab and make sure the Show Column radio button is selected for all columns (not Hidden or Conditional). Then, when all columns are visible, the drag-and-drop will work normally. After rearranging the columns as desired, use the chart Properties and Presentation tab again to restore the hidden columns and conditional columns.
One of the blog comments below suggests there is another type of non-visible column that would affect a Table Box: a column referring to a field no longer available in the document. You would have to edit properties for the Table Box and remove the field that no longer exists to restore drag-and-drop capability.